The ASCAP Daily Brief for Friday, June 21

Compiled by ASCAP Board member, music publisher and songwriter Dean Kay, the ASCAP Daily Brief cuts through the media clutter to bring you links to the most relevant news and commentary on the rapidly evolving music industry and how it affects your future livelihood. It can be accessed on the Headlines page of ASCAP.com and in the ASCAP RSS Feed.

Tech companies and criminals have made billions supporting the illegal exploitation of our cultural past
while ruthlessly pursuing the dismantling of incentives creators need to fashion our cultural future

MUST READ!"Perhaps Culture is Now the Counterculture" A Defense of the Humanities
By Leon Wieseltier -- Has there ever been a moment in American life when the humanities were cherished less, and has there ever been a moment in American life when the humanities were needed more?... there is no task more urgent in American intellectual life at this hour than to offer some resistance to the twin imperialisms of science and technology...[Thanks to Terry Hart for this most important link.]

Peering Pressure: the Secret Battle to Control the Future of the Internet
By Stacey Higginbotham -- There is a fierce battle going on to control the future of the internet, and consumers are the innocent bystanders. The latest fight between ISPs and over-the-top providers is taking place deep in the network, away from the eyes of regulators and consumers. Welcome to the world of peering fights.

How Artists Are Subsidizing Pandora's Lack of Profitability...
By Paul Resnikoff -- This is a critical point that keeps coming up about Pandora, a company whose pursuit of lowered royalties is now becoming obsessive. According to a comparative research report released by economist Jeffrey Eisenach, Pandora's royalty rates are completely reasonable — and oftentimes lower — than other retailers that purchase and repackage materials from other producers.

What Internet Radio Needs to Disrupt Actual Radio
By Brad Hill -- The term "radio" is misapplied to internet services like Pandora, AOL Radio, Rhapsody Radio, the upcoming iTunes Radio and their ilk...The business intent in all cases is more ambitious - to wean people from the terrestrial radio habit and migrate them to online services. Will it work? It's not working in a big way yet.

[Stop blubbering blubber boy!]Dotcom Decries 'Largest Data Massacre' After Company Deletes Files
By Reuters -- Dutch firm LeaseWeb said it had in February erased 630 servers rented by Megaupload, about a year after US authorities closed the site and charged its operators with facilitating online piracy, racketeering and money laundering.

[What Google is doing with data farms full of sensitive information about everyone in the world is a problem.]France, Spain Take Action Against Google on Privacy
By Natalie Huet -- France's data protection watchdog ordered Google on Thursday to change its privacy policy or face fines, leading a Europe-wide push to get the Internet giant to clarify its intentions and methods for collecting user data.

Just For Men (Brush-In Color Gel for Mustache & Beard), Hair Dye, Wigs, Girdles and liniment all aroundBlack Sabbath Earns First-Ever No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart
By Keith Caulfield -- Almost 43 years after Black Sabbath debuted on the Billboard 200, the iconic rock band earns its first No. 1 album this week with the arrival of "13." The set starts at No. 1 with 155,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

ASCAP OnStage Submission Deadline – June 30, 2013
ASCAP pays members for live performances at venues of any size. Just provide the basic details of the performance and which of your songs were performed and you'll receive an OnStage payment with your normal ASCAP distribution. It's that simple.

Amazing 33 1/3 Album Series Is Now Available as Apple iBooks
By Eliot Van Buskirk -- If you've ever read a book in Continuum's excellent 33 1/3 series about an album that changed your life, you know why we would argue that they are exactly what music needs. It's all about context, and if your love for (or interest in) a particular album knows no bounds, these "deep dives," to use the parlance of our times, are well worth reading.

DEAN KAY

Dean Kay has been at the helm of some of the most highly respected and forward thinking music publishing companies in the world, first as COO of the Welk Music Group, then as President/CEO of the US division of the PolyGram International Publishing Group, and now as President/CEO of his own precedent setting venture, Lichelle Music Company. Prior to his involvement in publishing, he was a successful songwriter, having had hundreds of his compositions recorded - including "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra. Mr. Kay has been a member of the Board of Directors of ASCAP since 1989. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), the Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), the Country Music Association (CMA), the Academy of County Music (ACM), the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), and the California Copyright Conference (CCC).

The ASCAP Daily Brief-Powered by The Dean's List is intended as a guide to direct music professionals to key articles about issues facing the entertainment industry. Recipients are encouraged to read further about the issues by accessing the complete article through the links provided. Author attribution is provided with each article, and none of the links allow readers to by-pass subscription archive gateways. Please note that all editorial comments are indicated in brackets. Questions? Comments? Please Contact Us